ZUCCHERO - SUGAR FORNACCIARI

By Valentina ZANELLA, Giangiacomo DE STEFANO

K+ - as PROD

Documentary - Completed 2023

The life of Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari is an explosion of contradictions: huge stadiums with the music world's top stars, but also the toil and harshness of the Italian countryside in the '50s and '60s.
However it is precisely from such contradictions that the most beautiful stories are born.

Festivals
& Awards

Rome FF 2023
Special Screening
    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Documentary, Female director, Biography
    • Countries
    • ITALY
    • Languages
    • ITALIAN, ENGLISH
    • Budget
    • 1 - 3 M$
    • Duration
    • 100 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Valentina ZANELLA, Giangiacomo DE STEFANO
    • Writer(s)
    • Federico FAVA, Valentina ZANELLA, Giangiacomo DE STEFANO
    • Producer(s)
    • Nicola FEDRIGONI (K+ SRL), Mattia DELLA PUPPA
    • Synopsis
    • The documentary film narrates the life and times of Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari through his own words and those of personalities such as Bono, Sting, Brian May, Andrea Bocelli, Salmo, Francesco Guccini, Francesco De Gregori, and many others. It features footage from Zucchero's private archives and from his latest triumphant world tour. It's a journey of the soul that goes beyond portraying a successful musician, delving into the doubts and vulnerabilities of a man who, unable to fight the devil within himself, has chosen instead to have fun with him.
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      A sold-out world tour across European capitals, North America, the United States, and even Oceania. It's the 2022-2023 World Wild Tour by Zucchero, yet more proof of how this artist achieves success all around the world, something which in Italy only scarce few artists have managed. The band that accompanies him boasts internationally renowned musicians who play wickedly hard and good; and he is a veritable stage animal who dances, moves, and touches hearts for over two hours. The story begins here, at the start of one of these concerts.
      While the musicians prepare, he warms up his voice in the quick change room, and then steps onto the stage. The spade, the roots, and the symbolic hat of this tour take us back to where it all truly began: Roncocesi, late 1950s.
      The deep Emilian countryside tries to shake off the stench of poverty, but Roncocesi is not Milan, nor is it even Reggio Emilia. The economic boom doesn't reach there. However, what does arrive and in a big way are the melancholy of the blues, the sexual charge of R'n'B, and the tears of Soul. A young boy realizes that the energy of USA African Americans is akin to the pulsating power he feels there, on the outskirts of everything and everywhere.
      He tries playing those tunes on the church organ in Roncocesi - of course when no mass is being celebrated - and that is when he understands that music will save his life. Panic attacks, anxiety, and a deep depression follow the end of the greatest love of his life.
      This is what hides behind the great artist, performer, and songwriter. It's all about roots, especially when it feels like you've come too far from where you started and you no longer recognize yourself - that is when your roots seems to spread and take hold everywhere. And so it comes to pass that international stars pour in to play with someone from Roncocesi, in Emilia, and he, ZUCCHERO, travels the world, filling arenas.